Is “crowdsourcing” the new “design by committee”?

It got me thinking about why I’m excited by open and transparent design processes, and how concepts like crowdsourcing are exactly the opposite of design by committee. (Well, sometimes.)

For me, the excitement stems from a passion for learning. I like to “see inside the tent” and to learn about how others approach the same challenges I face in my work, for example: How to build successful online advocacy campaigns, How to produce compelling Web properties, and How to develop impact-filled, sustainable, Web strategies.

Open design processes?

As a quick example, here are some recent (or ongoing) redesign processes that I’ve enjoyed watching and learning from:

Through all of those experiences, I kept faith that the “users” and “participants” have at least half of the answer. And, for me, that’s the key difference between crowdsourcing ideas that impact a community – like users, supporters, readers, or participants – and the concept of designing by committee. In my experience: design by committee adds all of the overhead of “open” without achieving any of its efficiencies.

Back to crowdsourcing vs. design by committee

Let’s leave aside for a moment the likelihood that the committee, by definition, is probably made up entirely of “people on the inside” and not users. A committee fails by only empowering a small, pre-selected, group. So there’s problem No. 1: In a small group, big opinions are unnecessarily amplified.

On the flip side, an open process invites a large group of predominantly “not known” (to the organization) people to contribute ideas, input, and feedback. So here’s major benefit No. 1: By nature of a having lots of voices, the volume gets turned down on the edge-case opinions.

Incredible insights, from incredibly smart people (and, somehow, for free!)

Preliminary user-testing before the “real” user-testing

Lots of points of view that usually wouldn’t be heard, which can lead to real innovation

On the challenges side:

It’s entirely possible to receive lots of feedback that’s not very helpful at all

Too much feedback can be challenging to distill into actionable next steps

And the inevitable fear that meeting the needs of “regular people” (aka non-creatives) leads to the lowest common denominator design

By far the best quote that summarizes this last point was from one of New Internationalist’s own print designers, who commented:

“It’s good that you invite feedback but I would urge you to follow your instincts on this one. Experience suggests that when you try to accommodate all opinions you can end up losing what was strong and distinctive about your ideas. You’re the designer!”

I guess, for me, that begs the question: Does all design need to seek distinction?

A word on innovation and breaking new creative ground

When I was younger and less experienced, I was a sucker for great visual design (I lie, I still am). Today, I’m firmly of the opinion that graphic design on the Web should try to help users achieve their goals and that creative excellence shouldn’t come at the expense of the users’ experience.

In most cases, that means following Web conventions where possible, so that users can easily find what they’re looking for. The only other dynamic I can really appreciate is the need to guide users toward the tasks that support the Web site, or organization that it represents.

That said, I’m thankful that there are some people out there that don’t agree and continuously try to break new ground, and – in the process – bring new conventions into the fold. I’m just happy they don’t do it on my watch, and I feel like those innovators should be forced to sit through a usability lab with the people who will be using their innovations. (Without fail, it’s a painful and humbling experience, I assure you.)

Are there other great examples of “open design” processes that are happening out there on the InterWeb? If you know of one, please pop it into the comments.

P.S. While writing this, I ran across this great “view into a print redesign project” YouTube piece by Toronto creative Alan Smith. There’s something I love about being able to get inside a creative mind, it’s addictive. More like this!

Related articles

Popular tags

The Tech Blog

This is where New Internationalist Web Team documents the free and open software used to build this website and its services, discusses emerging issues in the technology space, and provide critical analysis, news and commentary on all things IT and web.

New Internationalist reports on issues of world poverty and inequality. We focus attention on the unjust relationship between the powerful and the powerless worldwide in the fight for global justice. More about our work